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Why Powder? Here are 3 Reasons Why You Should Ditch Liquid

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Why are Nellie’s products powder-based? We get that question a lot! All month long, we’ll be focusing on the benefits of powder detergents and why you should ditch the liquid. For now, here's a quick run down!

ECO FRIENDLY


Using powder is a no-brainer at Nellie’s. Our plant-based formula is biodegradable, so it’s gentle on the earth while being tough on stains. Our Laundry Soda uses renewable energy as it’s made with a plant-based surfactant – plants grow back! Also, traditional liquid detergents consist of mostly water. At Nellie’s, we don’t think moving and shipping water around the world makes sense.

EFFECTIVE


It’s simple – there is more cleaning power packed into powder! Our Laundry Soda is more concentrated than traditional detergents, and one tablespoon is all you need for each regular-sized load – that’s it! Many conventional powder detergents use suds-producing fillers, like SLS and SLES, which can be harmful to your HE machine. Nellie’s on the other hand, is a low-sudsing detergent, and therefore it's perfect to use for your HE washing machine.

HYPOALLERGENIC


Our Laundry Soda contains no fillers and consists of only FOUR ingredients (plus, you can probably pronounce them all). The formula rinses completely clear, leaving no traces behind to irritate your skin – no perfumes, no phosphates, no optical brighteners, and no solid synthetics.
Simply put, powder is better. For you, and the environment. Stay tuned to learn more about the benefits all month long!
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5 Ways to Go Green with Your Clean

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Earth Day is every day for us at Nellie’s. We’re firm believers in using cleaning products that help you keep the environment as spotless as your clothes! Here are 5 ways Nellie’s helps you get that eco-friendly squeaky clean for your whole home.

Lamby Wool Dryerballs


Our eco-friendly Lamby Wool Dryerballs are crafted from 100% pure New Zealand wool to improve tumble drying. They work to soften your clothes, reduce drying time, static, and wrinkling. This means your clothes are dry faster, saving you money and helping the environment. Plus, the tins aren’t just cute – they’re reusable and recyclable! With a slot at the top, they're a perfect piggy bank to keep all that money you’ll be saving on your energy bill. Traditional dryer sheets are single use and can’t be recycled, but your Lamby Wool Dryerballs are reusable for up to 2 years. These natural alternatives are a no-brainer!

Laundry Soda


Get perfectly clean clothes without sacrificing the environment or your washing machine – Nellie's Laundry Soda's highly concentrated formula dissolves quickly in cold or hot water, rinses thoroughly and never leaves a residue. Plus, it's free from SLS, SLES, gluten, phosphates, fragrance, chlorine, and is HE-efficient, meaning you’re using less energy for your washing machine. Our powder formula is eco-friendly, as more cleaning power can be packed into a smaller space using powder.

Oxygen Brightener


Everyone sings oxygen’s praises for maintaining life on Earth, but do you know its second most popular use (according to us)? We do! Nellie’s Oxygen Brightener harnesses the power of oxygen to penetrate stains to strip away dirt, odor, and grime while keeping your colours bright and your whites white. Our chlorine-free formula is colour safe, septic safe, hypoallergenic, environmentally-friendly, and biodegradable! So much better than bleach, don’t you agree?

Dish Powder


Did you think we’d stop at just laundry? No way! Nellie’s Dish Powder easily penetrates grease and food particles, leaving every plate spotless without leaving a residue. Our phosphate-free formula gives you an eco-friendly cleaning experience and is septic-safe, so you can wash the dishes without worrying about the environment.

One Soap


We think it’s easier on you and the environment to keep things simple – not only when it comes to ingredients. Why use multiple different soaps when you could use just one? Our One Soap is safe for hands, dishes, dogs – anything you would use a sudsy soap for! Our formula is colour-free, SLS, SLES, and toxin-free and effortlessly strips away food, dirt, and grime, leaving just a sparkling, hypoallergenic clean. Do you like yummy-smelling soaps? The One Soap is available in four options: Peppermint, Melon, Water Lily, and Fragrance Free.
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How to Care for Your Spring & Summer Linens

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With tulips sprouting and warmer days quickly approaching, we’re dusting off winter’s cobwebs with a Spring Cleaning Series to help you prepare for the new season! To kick things off, we’re talking about the place you spend some seriously important time – your bed. We’ve already covered how to clean your mattress and how to clean your duvet, but now that we’re switching over to lighter fabrics like linen for our bedding, what’s the best way to take care of them? Don’t worry, we’ve done the research for you! Keep reading to find out the best way to care for your linen bedding.

  1. Be sure to remove any spots before putting the fabric in the wash – once any stains have been cooked on, they’re permanent! Oily stains from body lotion, etc., are not uncommon, so just use your WOW Stick to lift the stains out.
  2. Prep your laundry – button any buttons, close any Velcro so it doesn’t snag other things, and turn any patterned or decorated fabrics inside out.
  3. Don’t mix bedding with clothes that have metal zippers or a rough texture – any snags could ruin your sheets!
  4. Wash with your favourite Nellie’s Laundry Soda – the gentle formula is perfect for cleaning your fabrics without damaging the quality of your linens.
  5. Never use bleach – use the Oxygen Brightener to brighten your whites and colours without the nastiness of bleach. It’s better for your fabrics and your skin!
  6. Wash in warm or cold water. Lower temperatures are better for the environment, and also easier on your sheets.
  7. Line dry your sheets and duvet covers if you can. If you need to use a dryer, make sure the temperature isn’t too high. A too-hot dryer can ruin your fabrics as it weakens and breaks natural fibres.

Other Notes

  • Most linen on the market is pre-washed, which gives it a more lived-in feel and appearance. Plus, you can put it in the dryer! Traditional, untreated linen should never go in the dryer. The heat causes the fibre to close up and lose its luster.
  • If you’re drying your linens in the dryer, be sure to use your scented Dryer Balls in lavender! Not only will you cut down on drying time, you’ll have lightly scented sheets to help you drift off to sleep.
  • Storing linens in plastic can result in yellowing and should be avoided. Natural fibres need to breathe, so a non-plastic basket is ideal for storage.
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Your Back-to-School Prep and Checklist

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Summer is slowly coming to a close, and soon your kids will be spending less time at home and more time in school. This is the perfect opportunity to get your house back to the clean and orderly state it was before school was out for the summer. Every household is different, but we have a checklist for a few things we should all be doing around this time of year, including the tools you’ll need.



Back-to-school clothes inspection


Put on the no-nonsense drill sergeant’s hat for this back-to-school wardrobe makeover. With your child’s help, throw out or donate anything that’s too grungy or small to wear to school again this year. Make a list of what you’ll need when you go back to school shopping in the days ahead (a new sweater, pair of pants, etc.) based on what’s heading out the door.


If school uniforms are part of the program, this is the time to start ordering new sweaters, sweatshirts, and the like.


Any stains, smudges, or plain ol’ dirt? Tackle them with the Nellie’s All-Natural WOW Stick for stains, the Oxygen Brightener for non-bleach brightening and whitening, and - of course - the Laundry Soda for giving everything a deep, natural clean.


Take that momentum and turn to the rest of the house: go through your home and make a list of anything you don’t need anymore (old school supplies, toys, furniture, old appliances, etc.). Either donate these items, sell them, give them away to friends and family, or throw them out. It’s much easier to clean with less clutter in the house!


Tidy the bathrooms


Clean out kids’ bathrooms of last semester’s grooming remnants and restock as needed.
Help the kids clean out their bathrooms of last semester’s hair gels and stretched-out scrunchies. Make sure your son or daughter has everything needed to streamline morning grooming. This is especially important if you’ve got teens. If you have a couple of kids with a shared family bathroom, avoid the “It’s hers!/It’s his!” fights by keeping it simple and taking care of the issues now.


While you're there, have the kids help you with chores by wiping surfaces down with the All Purpose Cleaner while you scrub the toilet with the Toilet Bowl Cleaner.


Create a homework space


Create a homework centre. Choose a place where each child can work in comfort and without distraction. Stock nearby drawers or cabinets with school supplies.


If you already have a place, now's the time to go out with the old and in with the new and plan ahead for paper chaos. Set up ‘in’ and ‘out’ boxes for school papers. Kids can unload backpacks and drop off papers to be checked, signed, etc. in the ‘in’ box. You can leave signed papers, money, permission slips, etc. in the ‘out’ box.



Organize and entryway backpack zone


Create a backpack drop zone near the entry door. They’re going to drop those backpacks the second they’re inside anyway, so be prepared with a place to catch them. Whether that’s in cute storage cubbies or tucked in a closet, a designated space prevents scrambling in the mornings. Be sure to give the lunch boxes a good scrub – use the One Soap for a natural and fresh cleaning.


Time for a shop


Once you have a classroom supplies list, plan a day to go back to school shopping with the kids.
Make a back-to-school shopping checklist of everything the kids would need for school, from anything to classroom supplies to lunch boxes. When you’re home, make sure that everything is neatly labeled with names.

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Getting a Head Start on Autumn: Your Cleaning Checklist

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The sun is out, the weather is great, and the kids are at home. Believe it or not, but August is the perfect time to get ready for the end of summer and the beginning of fall. Take advantage of the weather and with the extra hands around the house, and deep clean now to welcome fall and back-to-school (even better). We’ve got an easy to-do list for you, tackling everything from inside to outside and the tools and products you’ll need. Happy cleaning!




INSIDE



  • Focus on your home's ‘public’ rooms first: the living room, family room, entryway, guest bathroom, etc.
  • Clean from the ceilings down to the floors. Begin by vacuuming the drapes and window treatments, followed by cleaning window sills and window wells. Vacuum baseboards and corners.
  • Vacuum upholstered furniture. To get rid of any stains, use the Nellie’s All-Natural WOW Stick, or take to the dry cleaners if necessary.
  • Wash interior windows.
  • Clean the walls: dust, wash, rinse, and dry any painted or wood-paneled walls with a mix of warm water and Nellie's All-Natural One Soap in Fragrance Free.
  • Turn mattresses front-to-back and end-to-end to ensure equal wear.
  • Launder all bedding: mattress pads, pillows, duvets, blankets, and comforters, making sure you can tuck the family into warm and cozy beds. Don’t know how to tackle this? Don’t worry, we’ve got some how-to’s for your mattress, pillows, and duvets.
  • Straighten out your closets – declutter, reorganize, and switch to your transitional summer-autumn wardrobe.
  • Prepare the kitchen for more nights inside: clean and organize kitchen cabinets, paying extra attention to baking supplies, pans, and equipment. Give your cabinets a wipe down with the All Purpose Cleaner.
  • Clean kitchen counters of all appliances that you have not been recently used. Clean counters look cleaner, and provide more room for cutting, chopping, and prepping.
  • If you can, pull the refrigerator away from the wall and vacuum the condenser coils. For bottom-mounted coils, use a long, narrow brush to clean coils of dust and debris.
  • Spruce up the computer: dust the CPU, clean and wipe down the keyboard, and dust off the monitor with a microfibre cloth.
  • Check the dryer exhaust tube and vent for built-up lint, debris, or even birds’ nests! Additionally, make sure that the exterior vent door closes tightly when not in use.
  • Schedule a fall inspection for your furnace – don’t wait for the first cold night!
  • Drain any sediment from your hot water heaters.



OUTSIDE

  • Clean the patio furniture and get ready to store it away along with umbrellas and the kids’ summer toys.
  • Touch up the paint on your home’s trims, railings, and decks. Use a wire brush to remove any flaking paint (be sure the prime bare wood first).
  • Check caulk around the windows and doors, re-caulk if necessary.
  • Inspect external doors and garage doors. Do they close tightly? Fix them now with weather-stripping and door thresholds if needed to make sure you’re not dealing with a draft in a few months.
  • Wash exterior windows with a mix of warm water and One Soap in Fragrance Free.
  • Drain and store garden hoses.
  • Check gutters and downspouts. Clear of debris if necessary.
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